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  • I think that it’s now safe to say that we Texans now live in a failed state.  30 years of GOP rule, setting our own standard, living the “Texas Dream,” which they’ve bragged about relentlessly…and let’s see where we are:

    A majority of the state in complete failure, unable to deliver the most BASIC of services (things that are called “utilities,” not “luxuries,” for a reason).  No power.  No water.  No means of clearing roads (that one, I can’t fault the state so much….but it wouldn’t be as big a crisis if people weren’t stuck in their homes with no power and water).  So citizens are stuck in their homes, some of them dying there. 

    Water resource planning?  After pretending for decades that a drought would never happen again, and not doing ANYTHING to develop resources in the state water plan (a document actually developed using science and mathematical projections), we had several locations, including actual cities, down to a few days of water supply.  We’ve finally gotten on our horse a bit, but it may be too late if the next drought comes anytime soon.  

    State rank in key categories:

    Education – 34

    Health Care - 37

    Infrastructure - 33

    Opportunity - 39

    Environment - 44

    Infrastructure - 33 

    In overall quality of life ranking by US News, we are now #38, down from #36 just two years ago.  At that rate, we’ll be in the bottom 3 within ten years.

    We are SUPER independent, and FUCK the feds….but we have requested federal disaster assistance more than any other state in the past decade or so.

    But hey, our economy is ranked #15!

    That’s right, we have a “roaring economy” and the “Texas Miracle!”  But we can’t deliver the basics for our citizens.  The economy is VERY efficient at funneling bazillions to the very few…..with little of it “trickling down” to most Texans.  Yeah, the people on this board generally do fine, but face the facts – we’re the top 10% or so.  We are educated, older, and fortunate.

    Our federal system allows for state-by-state experiments.  Texas is the poster child for near anarcho-capitalism and zero regulation or oversight.  We have tested that approach, for over a generation now (30 years of Republican rule).  That approach is a failure.  The evidence is undeniable, and overwhelming.  It doesn’t matter how many River Oaks millionaires you produce if the rest of your people are dying in their homes.  Shit, some of those River Oaks millionaires might be freezing to death today, too.

    The kids of a middle class family can hardly afford to go to a good state school.  Their prospects for employment are mediocre.  Their prospects of suffering crippling medical debt at some point are significant.  Their chances of not having basic utilities needed for life safety at some point – all but certain.  Their chances of becoming ill or dying from a pollution-caused illness are material.

    What’s the result?  Our leaders have sold Texas as a paradise – move here!  Bring your business here!  And some businesses have done so, adding opportunity…..but providing little to no tax support for the infrastructure we all depend on.  To the contrary, over the past few years, I know more and more people – educated people, people who can do their jobs elsewhere, who are looking to bail on this state.  It’s people with young kids, who want them to grow up in a better place.  It’s people in their working years, who simply want a better path.  It’s retirees, who want a safe and secure place to live.

    We have consumed our seed stock.  We have burned through our reserves.  We are now consuming ourselves.  The ability to pitch Texas as the land of opportunity is done.  Seeing what we have become, the tentative thought/plan my wife and I had of wrapping up our careers here and then getting the hell out of Dodge is becoming much more concrete.  My children are already unlikely to make their future in this state.  Now we are, too.

    But the response from the Republican leadership and their sycophants – “how are you gonna pay for it?  Taxes?  That’s socialism!  You want that stuff, you have to pay for it!”

    Fuck yes I do, and I’m okay with that.  I want groceries…so I have to pay HEB.  I want a car…so I have to pay Ford.  I want clothes…..so I have to pay Dillards.  I want my population educated….so I have to pay the school district.  I want electricity, with enough capacity to keep us running when we need it…..so I have to pay my bill, maybe with a capacity surcharge.  I want water to come out of the taps….so I have to pay for development of resources and maintenance of infrastructure.  I want roads….so I pay taxes to build and maintain them.  YES, I have to pay for all of those things, and “nothing is free” – no fucking shit.  So, let’s pay for it.  We have the #15 economy….we HAVE the funds in this state.  An economy with the flow of funds that ours has can produce and maintain all of those results.  But we have chosen a different path; funnel all the dollars to the top, and spend next to nothing for the public good.  We have privatized profit….we have socialized the costs.  And we are dying because of it.

    My fellow Texans are dying in their homes….and there’s nothing I can do about it today.  And I am enraged.

    I love Texas.  I am 6th generation here.  My ancestors have Texas historical markers on their graves.  We helped make this state, and this state helped make us.  It educated us (back when college was affordable).  But it’s time to face the fact – this state is a failure, and on its current path, with its current leadership and philosophy, it will only get worse.  This state has a terrible future, unless we dramatically change our path.   Chances of that happening?  0.0% -- because we’ll continue to vote for the guys who make our leadership priorities bathroom bills, and transgender sports, and requiring the national anthem be played at certain events.  Any bill that has been proposed to improve emergency preparedness of gov’t entities has been crushed by the Republicans controlling the lege….but we will definitely stick with those guys.  No taxes.  No government functionality.

    What we are seeing happening right now is our system working EXACTLY AS IT WAS DESIGNED AND INTENDED TO WORK.  And we will, I guarantee it, collectively decide to stick with that.  This state is in free-fall, and anyone with eyes can see it.  And anyone with a brain is starting to think of ways to make their life elsewhere.  It breaks my goddamned heart to see us commit collective suicide, but here we are.

     

     


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    Ghost of NMAS

    Posted

    Houston doesn't get to vote for their school board anymore.

    • Like 1
    • Rage+1 1
    Hermanator

    Posted

    1 hour ago, tx ind said:

    How the fuck could we have all these ISD elections and hot wheels couldn't get a vote in Houston for Turner's seat?

    Corruption. The answer is always corruption. 

    • Hook 'Em 3
    Mrs Whiggins

    Posted

    How it started...

    How it's continuing...

     

    • Rage+1 7
    elguapo

    Posted

    Texas public school are taking it up the ass this session, is anyone paying attention to this bullshit?

    https://www.texastribune.org/2025/05/14/texas-public-school-funding-legislature/

    Quote

    Legislators will need to sort out whether to provide public schools with an increase to their base funding for each student and, if so, by how much.

    The House has proposed raising the funding, known as the basic allotment, from $6,160 to $6,555 per student. That $395 boost falls well short of the roughly $1,300 increase districts say they need to address inflationary pressures that have only intensified since the Legislature last raised the allotment in 2019.

    The Senate, on the other hand, has opposed increasing schools’ base funding this session by any significant amount. The chamber’s education committee announced earlier this week that it would propose doing so by a modest $55 per student.

    A $55 increase in the basic allotment per student which hasn't been raised since 2019, go fuck yourself Abbott

    • Hook 'Em 1
    • Like 3
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    Brisketexan

    Posted

    5 minutes ago, elguapo said:

    Texas public school are taking it up the ass this session, is anyone paying attention to this bullshit?

    https://www.texastribune.org/2025/05/14/texas-public-school-funding-legislature/

    A $55 increase in the basic allotment per student which hasn't been raised since 2019, go fuck yourself Abbott

    That's because....and this is very, very important, because it is the foundation, cornerstone, walls, girders, and roof of the political ruling class in Texas....THEY WERE LYING.

    Quote

    Lawmakers called it the “Texas Two-Step,” promising that passage of a private school voucher bill and a multibillion-dollar public school funding proposal would happen in tandem. But with less than three weeks until the end of the 2025 legislative session, additional funding for cash-strapped public schools is dancing alone.

    They lied to get the school voucher bill passed.  "Pass the voucher bill, and we'll increase funding to public schools."  We've passed the school voucher bill.  And....they have broken their promise.

    Because there is no part of the political ruling class of Texas that is not built of and for lies.  It's not what they do.  It's what they ARE.

    • Hook 'Em 1
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    Larry T. Spider

    Posted (edited)

    Superintendents are already coming out and saying that if we get a $55 increase to the basic allotment, expect staff reductions and programs to be cut. It’s an embarrassingly low amount, even for the clowns running our state. As one pundit put it, people passed vouchers to save the hostage and now they are returning the hostage dead, in pieces, and in a body bag.

    Even if a slightly larger amount gets passed, we have started negotiations at such a low number, we are going to end up in a really bad place. This is the equivalent of somebody offering you 15k for your 500k house. 

    Two things need to happen, and neither will help the kids or the districts.

    1. Every superintendent needs to be extremely transparent with their community about what this will mean. Nobody should have any doubts about where blame lies when programs get cut. They have kept quiet in the past and taken the blame for the legislature’s fuck ups.

    2. Rural republicans should be publicly shamed by their communities for being little bitches that fucked over their kids and (usually) the largest employer in their area.

    Edit: just for some context, the current basic allotment is $6,160 so $55 is less than a 1% increase. Districts have faced massive inflation on building costs, maintenance, busses, and a million other things since the last increase 6 years ago.

    Edited by Larry T. Spider
    • Rage+1 7
    South Austin

    Posted

    I hope my son gets through the next four years of high school with as little fuckery as possible and then goes to college somewhere other than this shithole state.

    • Hook 'Em 7
    • Like 2
    Chips O'Toole

    Posted

    My kids' elementary school (Hays CISD) has already announced they are cutting STEM completely for next year to avoid staff reductions.

    • Rage+1 5
    Nice Guy Eddie

    Posted

    1 minute ago, Chips O'Toole said:

    My kids' elementary school (Hays CISD) has already announced they are cutting STEM completely for next year to avoid staff reductions.

    If Jesus wanted your kids to know about microchips, science or medicine, he would have added it to the Bible.

    • Hook 'Em 5
    • Haha 1
    miguelito

    Posted

    34 minutes ago, Larry T. Spider said:

    just for some context, the current basic allotment is $6,160 so $55 is less than a 1% increase.

    Like anyone (with a Texas education) could know that.

    • Hook 'Em 2
    Pescado_Rojo

    Posted

    35 minutes ago, South Austin said:

    I hope my son gets through the next four years of high school with as little fuckery as possible and then goes to college somewhere other than this shithole state.

    I'm so thankful both of mine graduate Saturday. 

    troph

    Posted

    37 minutes ago, South Austin said:

    I hope my son gets through the next four years of high school with as little fuckery as possible and then goes to college somewhere other than this shithole state.

    I have a senior next year then 3 more years to go too. Ugh.

    Sbbruin

    Posted

    33 minutes ago, Chips O'Toole said:

    My kids' elementary school (Hays CISD) has already announced they are cutting STEM completely for next year to avoid staff reductions.

    Damn, STEM has become so fundamental to a well rounded education.  But I had to send both of mine to private school to ensure they would get it.

    troph

    Posted

    On 5/15/2025 at 4:12 PM, elguapo said:

    Texas public school are taking it up the ass this session, is anyone paying attention to this bullshit?

    https://www.texastribune.org/2025/05/14/texas-public-school-funding-legislature/

    A $55 increase in the basic allotment per student which hasn't been raised since 2019, go fuck yourself Abbott

     Nobody gives a fuck. Hell in our district they blamed the budget problems on the current board and want to DOGE the district. We won so I guess some care. But not enough to matter.

    • Hook 'Em 1
    Eskimohorn

    Posted

    Superintendents are already coming out and saying that if we get a $55 increase to the basic allotment, expect staff reductions and programs to be cut. It’s an embarrassingly low amount, even for the clowns running our state. As one pundit put it, people passed vouchers to save the hostage and now they are returning the hostage dead, in pieces, and in a body bag.
    Even if a slightly larger amount gets passed, we have started negotiations at such a low number, we are going to end up in a really bad place. This is the equivalent of somebody offering you 15k for your 500k house. 
    Two things need to happen, and neither will help the kids or the districts.
    1. Every superintendent needs to be extremely transparent with their community about what this will mean. Nobody should have any doubts about where blame lies when programs get cut. They have kept quiet in the past and taken the blame for the legislature’s fuck ups.
    2. Rural republicans should be publicly shamed by their communities for being little bitches that fucked over their kids and (usually) the largest employer in their area.
    Edit: just for some context, the current basic allotment is $6,160 so $55 is less than a 1% increase. Districts have faced massive inflation on building costs, maintenance, busses, and a million other things since the last increase 6 years ago.

    giphy.gif
    Abbott’s reaction
    • Like 3
    Brisketexan

    Posted


    giphy.gif
    Abbott’s reaction

    It’s not fine. It was the plan all along.
    • Hook 'Em 1
    Pato del Muerto

    Posted

    If $6000 per student is all they get now and all they need per republicans, why aren’t private school vouchers $6000?  Why the extra 67%?  Aren’t private businesses more efficient than public systems, again per republicans?  Or, why aren’t they increasing the public school per child to the same $10,000 they just approved for private school kids?

    • Hook 'Em 3
    • Like 6
    DDD Dad

    Posted

    2 hours ago, Pato del Muerto said:

    If $6000 per student is all they get now and all they need per republicans, why aren’t private school vouchers $6000?  Why the extra 67%?  Aren’t private businesses more efficient than public systems, again per republicans?  Or, why aren’t they increasing the public school per child to the same $10,000 they just approved for private school kids?

    I think you know the answer. 

    • Hook 'Em 1
    South Austin

    Posted

    7 hours ago, Pato del Muerto said:

    If $6000 per student is all they get now and all they need per republicans, why aren’t private school vouchers $6000?  Why the extra 67%?  Aren’t private businesses more efficient than public systems, again per republicans?  Or, why aren’t they increasing the public school per child to the same $10,000 they just approved for private school kids?

    It was Abbott’s understanding there would be no math.

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    • Like 1
    HenryJames

    Posted

    1 hour ago, South Austin said:

    It was Abbott’s understanding there would be no math.

    • Haha 1
    sasquatch69

    Posted

    7 hours ago, DDD Dad said:

    I think you know the answer. 

    Yass, Wilks, Dunn all told Abbott he’d get this done or they’d primary him. He did the same to all our R legislators (and followed through last election cycle). And here we are. 

    • Hook 'Em 1
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    Gap03

    Posted

    Yeah, this is definitely going to be adopted because the Texas lege is that corrupt and/or stupid ...

     

    • Rage+1 8
    troph

    Posted

    Pure insanity 

    Captainant

    Posted

    1 hour ago, Gap03 said:

    Yeah, this is definitely going to be adopted because the Texas lege is that corrupt and/or stupid ...

     

     

    56 minutes ago, troph said:

    Pure insanity 

    "Well it's not against the law, so that means it's perfectly fine to do" - oil barons, probably

    troph

    Posted

    don't worry, the feds and the clean water act will save us... oh. wait...

    • Rage+1 6
    South Austin

    Posted

    1 minute ago, troph said:

    don't worry, the feds and the clean water act will save us... oh. wait...

    spacer.png

    • Hook 'Em 1
    • Like 3
    Eskimohorn

    Posted

    don't worry, the feds and the clean water act will save us... oh. wait...

    When we run out of water, the problem will fix itself.
    wild_turkey

    Posted

    Regarding our public schools, I get all the frustration regarding the lack of funding increases, the existence of vouchers, and discrepancy in public allotment vs. vouchers.

    I’m curious though, how does this actually stack up compared to other states? What financial metrics are available to know where Texas falls compared to everyone else? Are there a lot of other states that are doing better, or is everyone slipping in similar fashion?

    Perhaps more importantly, what reliable indicators of overall state academic performance are there?

    I’m not very well informed on these, so despite my frustrations about the first point, I’d like to better understand the big picture. Suppose I want to move one day and I want K-12 education to be a factor in deciding, how to I begin to evaluate that in the least biased way possible?

    Pescado_Rojo

    Posted

    4 minutes ago, wild_turkey said:

    Regarding our public schools, I get all the frustration regarding the lack of funding increases, the existence of vouchers, and discrepancy in public allotment vs. vouchers.

    I’m curious though, how does this actually stack up compared to other states? What financial metrics are available to know where Texas falls compared to everyone else? Are there a lot of other states that are doing better, or is everyone slipping in similar fashion?

    Perhaps more importantly, what reliable indicators of overall state academic performance are there?

    I’m not very well informed on these, so despite my frustrations about the first point, I’d like to better understand the big picture. Suppose I want to move one day and I want K-12 education to be a factor in deciding, how to I begin to evaluate that in the least biased way possible?

    Some decent graphs here

    • Like 1
    LCHorn

    Posted

    Looks like Vikki Goodwin is first out of the gate on the Dem side to run against Patrick for Lt Gov.  

    First impression is she’ll lose badly and put district 47 in play as the conservative-moderate alliance in west audience unites over not wanting to be represented by someone named Pooja.

    • Rage+1 1
    LCHorn

    Posted

    25 minutes ago, LCHorn said:

    Looks like Vikki Goodwin is first out of the gate on the Dem side to run against Patrick for Lt Gov.  

    First impression is she’ll lose badly and put district 47 in play as the conservative-moderate alliance in west audience unites over not wanting to be represented by someone named Pooja.

    Ugh, west Austin. 

    Larry T. Spider

    Posted

    The most widely used data to compare between states is the NAEP test that is given to 4th graders and 8th graders. Overall, our scores are meh, but so are a lot of other states.

    I would argue that school funding is more about everything other than math and reading. Those are the last things to get cut. It’s band, art, music, bus routes, GT, special ed services, more elective options, teacher retention, higher level courses in HS, and any other extras that get cut.

    These are often where good public schools excel, and often on the backs of people getting a 3k/year stipend for countless hours of work. Quite a few private school families come back for HS because of these things and AP courses that will be challenging enough for their college bound kids.

    Insert the Texas legislature to intentionally sabotage all of that with a 10k voucher and funding that will necessitate cuts to all of the above. Parents are about to get asked for way more money for supplies and various programs

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    ABZ

    Posted

    2 hours ago, Kyrie Eleison said:

    LO-fucking-L

     

    "And the obsession with freedom, bro?

    You have a thousand laws about what you can do with your own body.

    You can buy a rifle faster than you can get a library card.

    That’s not freedom, that’s live-action satire"

     

    "The heat is unbearable. You’re not sweating, you’re slow roasting in cowboy purgatory,

    and Texans are out here in denim and boots like its springtime in Paris."

     

    "Texas is not a place; its a coping mechanism disguised as a state."

     

    • Hook 'Em 2
    • Like 1
    Texas Jeff

    Posted

    On 5/19/2025 at 9:43 PM, Pato del Muerto said:

    If $6000 per student is all they get now and all they need per republicans, why aren’t private school vouchers $6000?  Why the extra 67%?  Aren’t private businesses more efficient than public systems, again per republicans?  Or, why aren’t they increasing the public school per child to the same $10,000 they just approved for private school kids?

    They get more than that.  School funding is so complicated that it is almost impossible to understand.

    Austin ISD gets about $13,800 to spend per student *after* recapture, which is about $2000 per student more than peer districts.  But their basic allotment is around $6100.  They get extra money because of carve outs and special allocations above the basic allotment.

    And spending per student within Austin ISD varies wildly, depending on the school.  LBJ HS spends about $10,000 per student from the general fund and about $21,000 per student from all funds, per year.  At LASA HS, a magnet school close to LBJ that used to be part of LBJ, the district spends about $6700 per student from the general fund and about $7900 from all funds, per year.

    LBJ is a smaller school (which means more money per kids spend on admin and building maintenance) with a harder to educate population, which means more money spent per kid trying to help them succeed.

    There is no one answer to school funding.  You can spend $8000 per year on an A rated school, if you get to pick the population, and you can spend $21,000 per year on an F rated school, if you have a hard to educate group.

    • Hook 'Em 1
    Willfully Horn

    Posted

    37 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

     

    so dumb and jail time for possession is just idiotic 

     

    Government dollars to private companies. For reasons.

    tx ind

    Posted

    Who benefits financially from the proposed THC ban?

    MissingInAction

    Posted

    Private prisons, booze lobby, corrupt Texas cocksucker politicians.

    The usual.

    • Hook 'Em 6
    • Like 3
    Larry T. Spider

    Posted

    46 minutes ago, bluto said:

    The biggest losers will be the retail strip owners losing 25% of their tenancy by year end. 

    Developers and large corporations landlords hold a lot of power with Texas republicans. But the top of their conservatard hierarchy will always be feigned religious outrage. Helping the poor need not apply.

    • Hook 'Em 3
    Brisketexan

    Posted

    Finally.  Texas can bet back to what it does best: imprisoning black and brown people at absurdly disproportionate and high rates for a harmless activity that white people engage in at a similar rate, but somehow, are only 25% as likely to be arrested for.  Because at the end of the day, the important thing is that those folks be kept as a perpetual near-slave class (can't get a good job with a conviction) and this is SUPER-IMPORTANT: they can't mess up Texas with their votes anymore.

    Voting is only for white folks.  Jim Crow out front shoulda told ya.  And once we renamed Jim Crow ("the War on Drugs" rebranding was quite successful), it took right off again.

    • Hook 'Em 6
    DaysOff

    Posted

    If this queer bait fucks up my 65th birthday/ retirement party I'm climbing a clock tower. Waited almost 40 years for this.f3eaa46f03e14455c0e395249f0f8258.jpg

    • Fuck Around and Find Out 1
    GreenspointTexas

    Posted

    1 hour ago, tx ind said:

    Who benefits financially from the proposed THC ban?

    Alcohol industry

     

    but its only a matter of time before weed passes alcohol in usage. Likely before 2050

    • Hook 'Em 1
    kevwun

    Posted

    If the people of Texas enjoy something, Abbot and Goeb will eventually ban it.

    • Hook 'Em 3
    • Like 1
    • Rage+1 1
    UTCzech III

    Posted

    11 minutes ago, kevwun said:

    If the people of Texas enjoy something, Abbot and Goeb will eventually ban it.

    Coming soon - post oak, mesquite, hickory and pecan wood give you cancer.  Henceforth, all brisket must be prepared "a la Cornyn".

    • Rage+1 1



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